Stop fighting and do your duty, Theresa May tells Tories

The prime minister will respond to a day of ill-tempered remarks traded by rivals within her partyTimes photographer Jack Hill

Theresa May will beg her squabbling party to “shape up” today after warring cabinet ministers traded jibes from the platform of the Conservatives’ annual conference.

The prime minister will close the gathering in Manchester with a plea for her colleagues to set aside their own ambitions and “do our duty by Britain”. She is expected to set out a package of measures to boost council housebuilding and limit domestic bills as she tries to check Labour’s electoral momentum since the snap election that robbed the Tories of their Commons majority.

Boris Johnson used his conference speech yesterday to intensify attacks on cabinet rivals such as Philip Hammond, the chancellor, who are pushing for a soft Brexit. The foreign secretary vowed to prevent Britain from being…